Methods and system for processing changes to existing purchase orders in an object-oriented order processing system

Abstract

In an order processing system, mechanisms and techniques receive a change to an existing order in the order processing system and generate a change order based on the existing order. The change order includes the change to the existing order. The system can then compare the change order to the existing order to generate change order result that indicates differences between a change order in the existing order. The system then provides the change order result to at least one recipient such that the recipient may distinguish the differences between a change order in the existing order. Since a change to an existing order can result in changes other than those specifically specified in the received change, the system of the invention allows a person making the change to be presented with the change order results that convey all of the changes that result to the existing order.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention generally relates to mechanisms and techniques for processing data in a computer based order processing system, and more particularly, to systems and techniques which manage changes made to orders in such systems.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Conventional computer based order processing systems allow a person to interact with a computer system to place orders for items such as goods or services. Merchants of the items often provide access to such order processing systems over a computer network such as the Internet using a standard set of protocols such as those commonly referred to as the World Wide Web and the hypertext transport protocol (HTTP). For example, a customer of the merchant can, for example, operate web browser software to navigate to a web site that the merchant operates the computer network such as the Internet. The web site can provide an online order processing system to allow the customer to order items offered ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0019]In another embodiment, the step of comparing the change order to the existing order comprises the step of generating a change order result that identifies, for each object having an attribute in the change order that has a different value from an existing value of a corresponding attribute of a corresponding object in the existing order, i) the value of the attribute of the object in change order, and ii) the existing value of the corresponding attribute of the corresponding object in the existing order. This allows the change order result to immediately convey to a recipient the differences between existing order and the change order.

[0022]According to another method embodiment of the invention, the method is provided for comparing order objects. The method comprises the steps of receiving a new value for an existing attribute of an existing peer object in an existing order. The new value preferably specifies a change to an existing order. The method then copies the existing order to a change order such that the change order includes a peer object corresponding to the existing peer object. The peer object includes a peer attribute corresponding to the existing attribute. The method then assigns the new value to the peer attribute of the peer object in the change order, so that the change order includes the change to the existing order while the existing order remains unchanged. The method then compares the existing peer object in the existing order to the peer object in the change order to produce a change order result indicating differences between existing attribute and the peer attribute and provides the change order result to at least one recipient. The recipient can thus conveniently and immediately determine the differences between existing order in the change order based on the change order result.

Problems solved by technology

Conventional order processing systems such as those discussed above suffer from a variety of drawbacks.

In particular, in conventional order processing systems, if a customer desires to make a change to an order, the customer's ability to do so is limited by the state of the order within the order processing system at the time that the change is received.

For example, if fulfillment of the order has begun, typical conventional order processing systems do not allow changes to be made to an order.

This requirement creates inefficiency in the order fulfillment process and thus conventional order processing systems mandate that changes are not allowed to an order after a certain point (e.g., a cut off time) in the order processing and fulfillment lifecycle.

Even if changes are allowed to orders at any point in the processing of the orders by an order processing system (e.g., before fullfillment begins), conventional order processing systems do not effectively communicate how those changes totally affect the pre-existing order.

In other words, conventional order processing systems do not compare the total effect of how changes made to an existing order differ from the existing order without the changes.

This makes it difficult for a person making a change to an order using a conventional order processing system to understand the complete effect or ramification of how a change will effect an order.

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